More on GBHS gun arrest

April 20, 2009

This report is from GB Police:

At 9:05 am this morning Gulf Breeze Police School Resource Officer Kerstan Tatro confronted a 61 year old white female in the Gulf Breeze High School parking lot as school convened for the day. The women was known to the officers as Judy Hall 1139 Finch Drive, Gulf Breeze, FL 32563 DOB 07-13-47. She had come to the school to talk with Officer Tatro about an incident that occurred at the school on Friday involving her son.

He told her to meet him in his office with her son to discuss the matter. Officer Tatro went to his office and could observe Ms. Hall outside in the parking area. Her son approached her and the two conversed in the parking lot. The son appeared to be nervous and watched the school resource officer’s office window continually. There was obvious discussion occurring between Ms. Hall and her son and the son’s actions led Officer Tatro to conclude that there was a problem. Officer Tatro also observed that Ms. Hall had taken a trench coat from her truck and had put it on. As soon as he observed this, he immediately went to her location and confronted her.

Officer Tatro engaged Ms. Hall in a brief conversation. Ms. Hall then talked about the trench coat she was wearing and said that “…anyone could walk into the school with a trench coat on and a gun in their pocket and start killing people.” She also told the officer that she has a .38 gun in her pocket now. Officer Tatro then asked her if she was serious that she had a gun on her and she replied, “Yes, I do.” He then took her into custody and found a handgun in the pocket of the trench coat. Ms. Hall resisted arrest. A further search uncovered a large knife on her person.

Officers arrived to assist and found another loaded handgun in Ms. Hall’s truck which was parked in front of the high school entrance. Officer Tatro had interrupted her before she had been able to put that weapon in her pocket. When asked what she was trying to do, she replied that she was going to make a point.

She was transported to the GB Police Dept. where she was booked for carrying a concealed firearm, bringing a gun onto school campus and resisting arrest without violence.

Subsequently GB Police Dept. recovered 5 more guns at her home on Finch Drive. They located 2 handguns, 2 rifles and a shotgun. Various calibers of ammunition was also recovered.